The Leader has been named the best large weekly newspaper in Arkansas. It has offices in Jacksonville and Cabot and covers north Pulaski County, Lonoke County and White County. The Leader is a family owned and operated newspaper that was founded in 1986.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

TOP STORY > >Men get more traffic tickets than women

By RICK KRONLeader staff writer

Are Jacksonville police targeting blacks, whites or Hispanics when it comes to writing tickets? It doesn’t appear so.If any group is being targeted it is men.

According to citation information that the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People requested, the Jacksonville police wrote 518 citations in March. Of those, 294, or 57 percent, were to whites, 211, or 41 percent, to blacks, and nine, or 2 percent, to Hispanics. Out of those 518 citations, 328, or 63 percent, were to males and 190, or 37 percent, to females.

The department also wrote 13,729 citations from January 2008 through June 2009; 5,273, or 38 percent, went to blacks, 8,314, or 61 percent, went to whites, and 250, or 2 percent, were Hispanic.

Data from the 2000 census shows that Jacksonville’s population is 25 percent black, 70 percent white and 3.5 percent Hispanic.

Although the percentages differ between the citations and the population, it’s hard to compare the two because motorists are so migratory. But if there is one group that seemingly gets more citations than another it is men.

In Jacksonville, males make up 51.1 percent of the population. Males received 8,670 of the citations issued, or 63 percent, during the 18-month period.

Out of the 82 officers listed on the report, only one, Cindy Harbour, wrote tickets to more blacks than whites. During the time period, she wrote tickets to 308 whites and to 395 blacks. She also cited more than twice the number of males compared to females.

No officer wrote up more females than males.

Nine of the 82 officers listed in the report wrote more than 500 citations during the time period.

They were:

James Brady wrote 685 citations. Almost 400, or 58 percent, were to whites, 45 percent were to blacks and 21, or 3 percent were Hispanic. Nearly two-thirds, or 458 of the citations, were issued to men.

Chris Galluppo wrote 615 citations. Almost 57 percent, or 350 citations, were written to whites, 45 percent, or 274 were written to blacks, and 2 percent or 11 were written to Hispanics.

Harbour wrote 688 citations with 308, or 45 percent, to whites; 395, or 57 percent, to blacks and 18 or 3 percent to Hispanics. Just over 500 of the citations, or 73 percent, were written to men and 201, or 27 percent, were written to females.

Christopher Mayfield wrote 562 citations with 352, or 63 percent, of them going to whites, 210, or 37 percent, to blacks, and three, or less than 1 percent, to Hispanics. The citations went to 358 men, or 64 percent, and 210, or 36 percent, to women.

William Monroe wrote 558 citations. Just over 300, or 54 percent, were to whites, 271, or 46 percent to blacks, and 16, or 3 percent, to Hispanics. Two-hundred, or 36 percent, of the citations were written to women, while 370, or 64 percent, were to men.

Gregory Rozenski wrote 579 citations, with 387, or 67 percent, going to whites, 193, or 33 percent, to blacks, and seven, or 1 percent, to Hispanics.

Donald Schmidt wrote 769 citations, the most of any officer. He wrote 486, or 63 percent, citations to whites, 283, or 37 percent, to blacks, and 24, or 3 percent, to Hispanics. He wrote 451, or 59 percent, of the citations to men and 342, or 41 percent, to women.

Christopher Schultz wrote 755 citations, with 472, or 63 percent, of them going to whites, 283, of 37 percent, to blacks, and four, or about a half of a percent, to Hispanics. Men received 554, or 73 percent of the citations, while women received 205, or 27 percent, of the citations.

Ryan Wright wrote 640 citations, with 442, or 69 percent, going to whites, 199, or 31 percent, to blacks, and two, less than one percent, to Hispanics. Almost 400 men, or 63 percent, received citations from Wright, while 245 women, or 37 percent, did.